A Heretic's Gamble
by Wakadooia
Summary: Unicron is stirring within the Earth's core, with the failure of the ignition chamber Quintessa seeks to ally herself with the colossal chaos lord. The Autobots meanwhile are just trying to rebuild themselves after a stressful time and are not pleased to find her, Unicron, a recreated Galvatron and newcomer named Cyclonus stirring up trouble! It's time to end this mess!
1. Chapter 1

"You… What?" The human male gave her an awkward glance, before, as if some realisation was dawning on him, he began to chuckle quickly escalating into a complete laugh, "Oh, sure, kill 'him', good one there lady! These spires are attracting the weirdo's huh? Is it part of your religion hmmm?"

The man's unwise tirade of disbelieving mockery continued for longer than her short patience could bear as the two stood in the shadow of the spire, the only landmark for miles around in this desert.

"Fine. I gave you little meat slugs a chance" She snapped harshly, her human disguise doing the same, metal tendrils rolling out of the disguise with a similar effect to bubbling water.

The human shrieked as Quintessa rose into the air and with an outstretched hand she used her power to fling the annoying primitive of an alien over the sand dune.

Humans nearby had seen the whole ordeal go down and began to panic too, kicking up sand as they rushed to get away.

It was her last resort really, but it was more enticing than working with these apes.

Silently glad she did not have to sully her form with the unpleasantry of the desert ground below any more Quintessa quickly closed the gap between herself and the colossal spire arching from the ground.

The metals that made it were old, older than her or anything she had ever seen before.

If she did not know the danger and power of that which it was attached to, Quintessa might even indulge herself to have called it 'amazing'. Bits and pieces of it bore a particularly dull orangey-yellow, barely noticeable among the rest of it, it must have been a wonderful golden shade when in its prime.

Quintessa hesitated for a moment, from now on she must tread carefully.

Allowing some of her own energy to flow more freely, focusing in her hands, she touched the spire.

"I seek an audience with you" she stated bluntly, unsure if this would even work.

It was silent.

Deafeningly so before the spire finally seemed to react.

Quintessa backed away in shock when a portion of the spire moved.

Inwards. While crumpling in on itself.

It was comparable to a plastic bag having all the air sucked from it, except metal and that it probably shouldn't be able to move like that.

The wrinkled patch of metal throbbed before sliding down the side of the spire and sinking below ground level.

The silence returned once more, only slightly broken by a reptilian organic quickly traversing the dunes unaware of metal gods beside it.

A low 'thunk' told of the great being's decision and the base of the spire twitched, sand began falling as the ground below it moved away, dust billowed out mixing with the falling land as a door opened just below the visible base of the spire.

'Audience granted it seems' Quintessa hummed to herself as she floated down.

Below she found herself in a pitch blackness that only began to recede like an injured Retrorat as a sickly green light slowly started to illuminate the chamber, lining the walls in several spots like little optics. Walls which looked like they were constructed from melted metal that had solidified in time for another few layers of metal to melt over the top and solidify again.

It certainly gave an eerie vibe.

With no further indication, she looked around the room, there were three arches each leading down pathways constructed of equally strange metals merged into bizarre structures.

Quintessa headed for the pathway closest to her.

A membranous film immediately slammed shut over it before she could pass through and the green lighting in the pathway furthest from her shone brighter.

Biting back the curse that threatened to escape her, Quintessa followed the new pathway.

The inside of Unicron was stranger than anything she'd seen.

Any 'incorrect' pathway was shut up with a membrane before she could traverse the wrong path, parts of it were huge and cavernous, while others were small, even for her. If she knew a jolt about how organic life forms worked she could compare parts of it to big veins and neurons only formed from metal in a fashion that implied it had grown like that rather than being constructed as so.

Tiny shapes skittered away from her whenever she turned her helm, trying to catch glimpses of whatever lived within Unicron seemed fruitless unless they wanted her to see them, only fleeting glances caught a glimmer of small, deformed things.

It was enough to make even her feel quite insignificant in the scale of its size and bizarrity.

Eventually, she found herself in another colossal cavern with several branching pathways, one wall was deeply concave, the dip framing a large bulbous, branched clump of metal.

It was this bit of metal that began to glow with the same green light as before but stronger.

"SPEAK" The light throbbed and a voice boomed in Quintessa's processor making her reel from the volume of it alone.

"I…"

"DO NOT WASTE MY TIME. SPEAK" The voice refused to get any quieter, every syllable hollered out as if it were being physically hammered in.

"I am Quintessa and I offer my services to you, O' lord Unicron" She bowed quickly hoping at the very least to placate him into speaking quieter.

"AND WHAT COULD THE LIKES OF YOU OFFER ME" The metal clump pulsated as it 'spoke'.

"I…" Quintessa had to compose herself for a second, no one had dared speak to her like this before, then again no one potentially had the power to back up their snotty behaviour before, "I can offer my own highly desirable power, fully and completely to you, as a… humble follower of yours. To add to that I still have control of another, and they too will be yours to command"

"I FIND YOUR BARGAINING POSITION HIGHLY DUBIOUS" Unicron boomed back, "I AM SPEAKING TO YOU DIRECTLY TO YOUR INSIGNIFICANT PROCESSOR I CAN SENSE YOU ARE HIDING THOUGHTS BEHIND YOUR POWER, BUT I AM NO FOOL, I KNOW THEY ARE DISOBEDIENT THOUGHTS"

Quintessa tried to smile.

She may well be in far over her head now, but she was nothing if not smart and crafty.

"Well, of course, I am a Prime, there are rumours you cannot penetrate all of our thoughts… Forgive me, my new Master, those disobedient thoughts were merely born of doubt, I know now you truly are as the legends say, greater even, to have so smoothly established a connection to my processor without me even noticing, you ARE powerful!"

Unicron remained quiet, but his silence was still heavily permeated with doubt and condescendence.

"Cybertron is in orbit, as is it's life core, as I'm sure you're aware, you can have both my power, my underling and everything we can get or provide you with! All I want is Cybertron, but not it's life core, you can destroy that as you please, without the AllSpark that thing is weak and practically just waiting for you to destroy it."

The silence still continued as Unicron thought over what she offered.

"SHOW ME YOUR OFFERING" He demanded.

"O-of course!" Quintessa perked up, for now, she must be the picture of perfect obedience, "He is far away however an-"

"SHOW ME IT. I WILL LOOK AT IT AND DECIDE MYSELF"

The mark Quintessa had branded her chosen 'followers' with was not just a signal for those to see whom they pledged allegiance to but helped her monitor and corral them unless the control was broken.

The pathetic hunk of slag was half buried in the dirt somewhere. The sight of and temporary return to Cybertron seemed to be causing some sort of distress as he did not move, choosing to lay staring wistfully at the fractured planet from where he had fallen, mind wandering to far off places.

As she watched him, the ground around him opened up and he was gone.

"I FIND THIS ACCEPTABLE. YOU WORK FOR ME AND ME ALONE NOW, AS DOES YOUR WEAKLING OF A PET"

"Ah, I am humbled you have graciously accepted my offering and my services, he is yours to do as you please with"

"I ALREADY AM"

Quintessa wanted to ask what he meant, but she could feel the connection via her brand vanish in an instant. Noises from deep inside Unicron blared and hummed, lights pulsated to an unknown rhythm as they 'flowed' to an unknown part of the behemoth before it all shut down.

Every source of illumination faltered and fizzled, struggling to stay alight, Quintessa noted the minor display of weakness.

So he had been affected to some degree by the transfer of energy through the ignition chamber.

"AHHH" Unicron seemingly 'came back', sounding satisfied with something, "TO THINK A USEFUL BODY WAS WASTED… BEHOLD, GALVATRON"

A section of the wall parted like water and as if suspended by invisible strings Galvatron was slid into the room, his external armour rippling as it settled into its current form, a clear indication he was back to the Transformium body he had upon meeting Quintessa before.

Quintessa scowled, now she would have to bother to remember this name, the only reason she made him retake the Megatron name was so she wouldn't have to bother associating with these beings beyond their usefulness.

Galvatron stood still, his armour shades of purple contrasting with the orange section on his chest his helm looked a little more like it had horns now, especially with the addition of a central spire. Flaming optics glanced around the room, Quintessa easily noted the emotions pouring from them; confusion, fear, panic.

How long before this worthless underling buckled from this, the stress and the frustration that had lead him to her in the first place? As long as Unicron was content to let her do as she pleased, Quintessa did not care.

"NOW, I WILL GIVE THE THREE OF YOU YOUR ORDERS ONCE YOU ARE ASSEMBLED, GO BRING OUR NEW MEMBER IN SO MY COMMANDS CAN BE HEEDED"

"Three? Who else would, I mean, who else even knows you're here besides the Autobots? Those little things crawling about?" Quintessa argued, not another worthless Transformer to deign to be around.

"I HAVE FOLLOWERS, ONES I DO NOT NEED TO BRAND TO CONTROL, THE CLOSEST LOYALEST ONE WILL DO"

Quintessa silently bristled at Unicron's thinly veiled remark.

Galvatron continued to stare silently like a Pterorabbit in headlights.

Elsewhere in space, an uncharted cluster of asteroids around a dusty, lava-ridden planetoid sat nestled in the back end of beyond.

Atop a plateau on the planetoid a dark, pointed structure sat, Decepticon emblems decorating the entryways the only indication of its purpose.

It was however near enough to Earth for Unicron's rather weak 'just emerging' signal to reach, even then it only touched those who'd dare listen.

To everyone else, there was nothing, nothing but the aftermath.

Which was where Oil Slick was.

He clung to the ventilation pipes that ran high in the ceiling, ignoring the heat that made his paint bubble, crack and flake away.

That could be replaced, his Spark could not.

The door hissed as it opened and Oil Slick clung tighter to the pipe.

If only the room wasn't so dimly lit.

If only it wasn't so noisy, then he could be sure it was the door and not a pipe…

He just hoped it was a pipe… please let it be a pipe.

There's only so much running one can do.

Heavy footsteps threatened to draw out a whimper from the fleeing con as he felt the pipe beneath him wobble and his servos dug deeper into its plating, clinging on for dear life.

Peering around the pipe it was not hard to miss the massive shape below, forced to quadrupedal movement in order to access this room and not be entangled in the pipes running at its peak.

Oil Slick watched his pursuer slink away around one of the ventilation units, maybe he could move now… or maybe he'd just stay still and not risk even the slightest bit of noise, even better.

Once more the thuds rose as they circled back and Oil Slick cursed the feeling of his external plating beginning to bubble at the heat.

"Oh"

'Oh'? 'Oh' what? What's 'oh'?

Lip plates trembling Oil Slick took another peek at the room from the pipe.

His paint!.

His bloody paint!.

Below him, he could see his tormentor looking at his servo's and the specks of paint that had stuck to it from the floor before his optics snapped upwards.

"No! NO NO NO NOOO!" Oil Slick scrambled to move, his balance only being thrown off by the curvature of the pipe, claws being his only saving grace as they pierced the pipe just enough for him to have a grip.

Uncoordinated movements were not a match for size and the reach that it provided.

Covering nearly half of his body, a hand clamped around Oil Slick's legs and pulled.

"NOOOOOOOO" He shrieked again, his talons leaving gouges in the metal as he tried in vain to cling to the pipe.

Just like that Oil Slick was now being moved through the base, clutched in claws too big for him to escape from, his aim suffering from his own panic and being swung around was not helping his shots either. He tried falling back on his claws, trying to cut and tear at his bonds, he even tried biting but they refused to budge.

"No, no please, not like this!" He pleaded, "Cyclonus please, I'm sorry about whatever it was! Anything! We've never seen optic to optic but this is absurd, you're going crazy! Please don't kill me" On any other day he'd despise the notion of begging but as the pungent smell of dead bodies, snuffed sparks and congealed vital mech fluids rose ever stronger anything was better than dying.

Mercy was not on his side as the last door opened into the main landing hangar.

The room was dominated by a twisted sculpture, internal support structures twisted together, spinal struts arcing from the top, servos arranged in a circle upon its front.

It looked almost like a face.

The slumped, gutted bodies of their teammates lined the back of the room and Oil Slick was allowed to join them as he was thrown face first into Strika.

Or at least what was left of her, one remaining shoulder strut was the only identifying feature left, from the looks of things she had put up one hell of a fight at least.

Oil Slick gasped and tried his best to get up, but the thick layers of ichor allowed him no footing.

Cyclonus pinned him down, forcing Oil Slick's face into the slurry that once composed bits of his teammates.

"No, don't, please, you don't know what you're doing" He tried one last time as he felt a claw poke and prod between his shoulder panels.

"For the glory of Unicron" Was his response as Cyclonus hooked a claw tip under Oil Slick's spine and stripped it out, severing several vital connections and energon pumps, letting it spew everywhere.

That was it.

All of Team Chaar gone, but it was good.

They were serving a far better purpose now.

Cyclonus almost envied them had he not been called to a higher purpose.

Oil Slick's spinal strut was added to the sculpture.

A crude imitation of what was supposedly the glorious visage of the great Unicron.

What a wonderful honour for them to contribute their own parts to bring forth his image to the realms.

Unicron will be pleased with his humble offering, now to present it to him; Cyclonus took to the stars following the quiet call wherever it may be.


	2. Chapter 2

Lennox and Cade stood to the side.

Lennox was managing to stay relatively still, managing to subdue the urge to run about and look at everything but was still enamoured by the breathtaking view.

Cade was not however and was wandering about gazing at everything and anything.

They were the first humans on Cybertron.

The duo had been granted protective suits, modified by one called 'Cogman', Lennox assumed he was another Autobot but whoever they were they had decided not to join them, stating he still had a home on Earth and mentioned something about some 'Hot Rod' and he going to a burial, from what he heard it was a human close to the Autobots so he was not bothered again. Regardless they were both thankful for the suits, Optimus had informed them that by now Cybertron's atmosphere would be a death sentence for an organic lifeform.

They'd also travelled to the planet on dragon-back, the Knights had been more than willing to allow them to come not to mention it was faster and less costly than building a rocket. Also less legal tape regarding their coming here.

And who'd really say no to riding to another planet on dragon-back?

The Autobots in question were energetically rushing about, even the Dinobots seemed more than happy to relax and calm down here, some lounging like excessive cats on various ledges, the state of the planet seemingly not bothering them too much.

They'd all pitched in to help build a safe habitat for the two humans to exist in without their suit. It was nothing more than one bathroom, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a supply room turned partial living area. It ended up being done before the day was out and the two humans had got to watch the Earths sunset from a distance on Cybertron. That was three days ago.

The planet was obviously a total catastrophe, large structures the humans could only assume to have once been buildings and roads were broken and twisted, mashed into each other like a moon-sized typhoon had personally busted the place up. For this reason, Lennox did not voice his opinion that the view was breathtaking, he was sure it was far better before the war ever started but to him, it was still a new, wild alien world.

The Triceratopsian Dinobot headbutted another wall, along with Hound pulling, the large support structure they had put together creaked upright and Hound cheered before it sagged and dropped to the ground with a loud clang and the cheer became a curse.

Since their arrival Hound had been going about attempting to set up the foundation for their base, albeit he'd initially started doing so as he made jovial remarks about making some kind of gun to spray the cementing fluids. Regardless he'd still found himself on building duty and hoisting around heavy slabs and beams trying to put them together for his fellow Autobots.

Nearby Drift was scratching at the ground fussing over something, while Crosshairs looked on, shaking his head at whatever the other bot was doing.

Upon returning to Cybertron, Drift had somehow produced plants native to the planet and had temporarily become the focus of everyone's attention for a long while. All of the Autobots were utterly amazing to see a living piece of flora from before the war; Drift had explained caring for these plants had been another key part of his meditation process.

Cade and Lennox had been picked up by Bee to allow them to see the flower past the crowd. It looked nothing like what they knew a flower to be on Earth and seemed to be made of tinted glass yet looking carefully at the petals they could see lines reminiscent of a circuit board running through it.

He'd since been allowed to start cleaning and monitoring the ground and trying to plant his flowers, although he had been, and continued to be remarkably fussy about everything and no patch of soil was good enough.

Bumblebee, on the other hand, was just ecstatic to be there and was doing cartwheels and handstands merely enjoying the feel of Cybertronian land beneath him once again helping out whoever called him over first.

Crosshairs likewise had also been drifting between both efforts however it was more to be less helpful and brim with snark, having found Hound not to be reactive he'd seemed to focus his energy on getting a bickering match or two out of Drift and his still present streak of anger. Although when pushed, and usually with a glare from Optimus, he helped out.

Lennox looked to the side, in the distance a little behind them Optimus was pacing up and down.

Lennox once again ignored Cade pointing something out and utter about how much his daughter would love this place. He didn't mean to be rude but his mind was elsewhere and refused to return to him.

With his position in the military and prior work with the Autobots, he was more privy than Cade was to the rocky relationship Earth had with the Autobots.

And he knew damn well it still was a load of horseshit.

Apparently, the ruling bodies of the world and the populace weren't happy with Cybertron being so close, of course, no one seemed to be just damn happy that the planets presence and sheer gravitational disruption to their solar system hadn't caused a damn apocalyptic event, oh no. They were furious that this world dare blemish their skies and were making demands that Cybertron and all Cybertronians on the planet be removed.

No wonder Optimus was frustrated.

"Are they still refusing any contact?" Cade's remark over their suits intercom roused Lennox from his thoughts, having followed Lennox's gaze and quickly falling upon the reason for the long face.

"Hm?"

"Earth, are the governments still trying to get rid of them like all this never happened?" Cade was fiddling with some rock-like lump of metal, throwing it from hand-to-hand.

"Yeah, apparently they feel like they've been 'taken advantage of' and are trying to get Cybertron cut off" Lennox dearly wished to rub his face but the helmet made that impossible.

"Do you think if we announce ourselves the official human ambassador's and that we're gonna stay here that they'll change their minds? I may not have the best grasp of politics let alone intergalactic politics but they can't just ditch human citizens right?" Cade began trying to juggle the one lone rock, unsuccessfully as it hit his knuckle and clattered to the ground.

Lennox let a half laugh escape him.

"You think Earth won't ditch us just because we put fancy words on it? They're determined to see them gone."

"Damn. You'd think actual contact with actual aliens would be better received"

"Ye-"

"Optimus!" Their conversation was interrupted as Drift sped past them rousing their leader from his troubled wanderings.

"Yes?" He half-mumbled as he refocused his attention, Crosshairs joining them at a leisurely pace.

"The plants they won't grow!" Drift announced to him.

"Probably 'cos it's a plant and it ain't gonna give immediate damn results we haven't exactly been here that long!" Crosshairs hissed snottily.

"Listen here!" Drift instantly forgot about airing this concern to Optimus, "I have been keeping several Polyhexian daisies alive to the best of my ability! I search for the perfect spot to plant them and bring life to the area as we construct our new base here and they immediately fall flat! That is NOT right!"

"Probably just the ground still ain't right for em!" Crosshairs dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

Cade and Lennox watched the two bicker back and forth while Optimus bore a look of tired acceptance, it had been like this for a while.

The situation was totally only going to get better as Hound approached the mess.

"So, uh, while tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum sort themselves out there, fancy more less-than-great news?" He placed himself next to Optimus watching the mini-'fuss fight' go on between his comrades.

"No, but I don't have a choice" Optimus admitted.

"Fair 'nough" Hound shrugged, "The supports and foundations we put down just don't work. Nothin' is really stopping it, it's just y'know flopping over. Like everything's got the same amount of enthusiasm we have left after this shitshow..."

Optimus's plates rattled as a sigh rolled through him.

Moving back to Cybertron wasn't going to be a walk in the park but it felt like the biggest anti-climax he'd ever experienced. Everything was still a mess and they were just 'there' stumbling about like fools.

"Ah" Hound caught his leaders expression and even Drift and Crosshairs managed a moment of silence, "well maybe we just need to find another spot, I mean not like the humans are staying and if we get a base built up we can always make it fine for them too, just as long as we have a place right?"

"Hey hey! Not staying?" Cade activated his longer ranged comms to make sure they all heard.

"Oh don't act surprised" Crosshairs shrugged.

"Yeah" Hound stepped towards them a little, "You don't have infinite air or supplies, you gotta go back sometime, then there'll be all that hassle about interplanetary crap and who knows when you'll get back then, we can't even get one of our own plants to root we can hardly start a farm just for you two"

"Hmmmmm ugh he is right about that" Lennox shuffled on the spot, glancing at his feet and back.

"Ah! Nooooo no no, we're going to be the Earth ambassador's here and then Earth CAN'T just throw you off!" Cade announced his earlier plan loudly as if it'll fix everything, "Then the Earth governments can pull their fingers out and help more"

"As much as I appreciate the sentiment" Optimus finally spoke, taking the lead of the conversation, "The ruling bodies of Earth do not seem to see it that way and feel we have been too much hassle, rebuking offers of a treaty, I fear they'd likely view it either as kidnap for you to stay here or merely cut you off as 'sympathisers' I would not risk either of your lives as such"

"Well we do have our alt modes, why couldn't we just sneak back and forth for supplies for them and let them stay?" Bumblebee had also been in on the conversation but had chosen to remain on the outer rim.

"As much as we'd all like to, you know as well as I that's not a viable option" Optimus reminded them of the facts, "It would take a lot of energy to make so many trips, our alt modes can only store so much, not only that but if they were to cut themselves off from Earth to stay by our sides I fear they will be forcefully removed from their families once more"

That successfully got all the Autobots to shyly glance away from the humans, and Hound nodded at them having already come to that conclusion for those reasons.

"Sorry pals" He added.

His sincere remark became a little yelp as something heavy and sharp thudded next to the group, One of the three Knights had turned up and stood his sword in the ground regarding the group quietly.

"Oh look who blessed us with his presence" Crosshairs mumbled not-so-quietly before hissing at Drift who had promptly elbowed him for the remark.

At least Stormreign, leader of the Knights, hadn't acknowledged the jibe.

"Cybertron is weak and tired" He announced as if it explained everything, "Too tired for living upon. Myself and the knights shall be leaving you now- "

"You didn't hang around much to begin with" Crosshairs earned himself another elbowing.

"- We wish to head to the core, and guard it, none of us feel at ease with Unicron so close by and we wish to protect it, and hopefully, heal it. You may not see us for many, many vorns." he took a step back and made a deep bow, almost putting himself at a perfect ninety-degree angle as he did before turning to his comrades.

The trio combined once more and took off to the skies, fading fast and leaving silence in their wake.

"Grimlock still wishes he fought that dragon" came Grimlocks one and only contribution to the entire conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

Quintessa scowled harshly, being ordered about so… so, bluntly as if she was nothing more than a common drone, it was threatening to ruin everything as she continued to bite down on the urge to snap back at the colossal being they walked through.  
She almost didn't notice she was being glared at herself.

"What have you done?" Galvatron hissed, so quietly his words could barely conceal the venom in them.

"Just be lucky you're even wanted here" She finally snapped upon acknowledging his remark.

"No change from usual" Galvatron snapped back, "How's it feel to be in the same boat?"

"Yyyyou" Quintessa finally snapped around to glare at him, the fury evident on her face prompting a smug grin to make its way to Galvatron. What he wasn't aware of was a loose chunk of metal, lying on the floor along Unicron's pathways was rattling in response to Quintessa's will.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't shocked. It was a supremely satisfying shock, however, one so good it made her forget what she was even angry about.  
Pulling on the loose chunk of metal with her powers, it had flung itself with an incredible burst of speed to hit Galvatron in the back of the head.  
The result? His head popped like a water balloon, purple transformium spraying everywhere and his body dropping to its hands and knees, twitching with loss and confusion attempting to process what had just happened.  
Of course, the drips of transformium around the room began moving and snaking their way back over to Galvatron.

Okay, it wasn't just satisfying, it was great. Quintessa howled with a delightful cackle as she watched the events take place. The more Galvatron's head reconstructed, the more his angry mumbles grew in volume as his vocal unit built back up.

"CEASE THIS NONSENSE"

Both Quintessa and Galvatron reeled as Unicron bellowed in their minds. Their vision being taken up by angry red lights, dazing their sensory circuits. Quintessa only just stopped herself from hitting the floor as she lost control of her hovering and Galvatron's back brimming with spikes as his fluid body rippled.

There was a tense uneasy silence after that both of them quietly heading out to the desert spire.

Silent aside from Galvatron who seemed far more distressed after having his head popped and had taken to examining his body, looking over his hands and watching as they wobbled and shifted according to his will.  
He seemed distant and unfocused, good less for Quintessa to deal with, she could easily tune out the quiet distressed whines he subconsciously made as whatever took his fancy was only making him feel worse.

After a wonderfully peaceful walk, they placed themselves atop a dune, watching over the expanse for their new member.

Quintessa looked back over at the spire, it's possible Unicron's influence likely couldn't reach out here she wondered.

"Why don't you shut up and think rather than whine like an incessant, lost brat Megatron" she hissed both at the end of her patience and to test her thought.

"Don't call me that" Galvatron snapped in return with a surprisingly dark tone.

"Do you expect me to remember your name? How charming, I'd bother to remember it if you were even remotely successful in completing a simple task! Not a failure!"

"Your plan was a waste to begin with!" Galvatron's body physically bristled with his mood, "You told me we'd work together not that you'd also change my body and name!"

"Megatron was easier to remember" she waved her hand nonchalantly.

"YOU" Whether or not Galvatron had the same thought about Unicron's reach she didn't know but he didn't seem to care as he raised his hands ready to throttle her.

"Galvatron!? There you are!" A third voice joined them, causing the two to turn around and look at the newcomer their brief bickering session more than enough to not notice them.

"Barricade?" Galvatron uttered almost confused at the smaller 'cons arrival and also at them remembering and using his name.

"Yes sir" The smaller Decepticon saluted, "I, uh, didn't get the chance to join you up on Cybertron and got stuck but I escaped before I was found! Good to find you again and back to your other self I see"

Quintessa groaned, rolling her optics.  
"It's good to see you again soldier" Galvatron greeted, "I can always trust you to actually survive our run-ins with those meddlesome Autobots, I just didn't expect you to actually…"

"Actually what sir?" The car looked confused, "Is that her? The one you spoke to" his attention quickly changed.

"Her!? You will talk to me with more respect!" Quintessa snapped on Autopilot.

"Yeah, that's her alright"

"She's as pleasant as you said she was" Galvatron and Barricade ignored her outburst and a curl of Galvatron's lip plates spoke volumes of how he was silently enjoying seeing her fume at the two of them.

"No, I meant, I didn't expect you to be the contact Unicron had summoned" Galvatron answered a prior question.

"What?" Barricade seemed to grind to a halt looking nervously at the spire they stood near, his voice lowering to a whisper "You mean that thing IS actually alive? Not just… y'know a legend told by caretaker units to their protoforms?"

Both Galvatron and Quintessa actually shared a glance to each other.  
It was the only thing that provided them with some optical shielding from what happened next, as the ground chose that moment to explode as something excessively heavy hit it sending the three of them stumbling backwards from the billowing clouds of sand.

"HEY WAIT" Barricade was the first to speak and not actually just yell indistinctly in surprise.

The cause of the disruption happened to be the massive figure that had just landed. A figure that reached out and grabbed Barricade by the waist.  
Unfortunately by now, the sand had settled enough to make the newcomer and his actions visible.

Barricade managed to get one shot off before the new guy placed him in his mouth and bit through the Decepticon's chest, crushing his spark chamber and ensuring his death. Energon and chunks of Barricade flopped sloppily to the floor as the newcomer chewed his way through Barricade's corpse consuming the body as easily as a midday snack.

For once the look shared between Galvatron and Quintessa was mutual. Shock, horror, disgust and a light urge to purge their tanks.

The newcomer chose to lick his claws unmoved by his own act of cannibalism.  
They were twice as tall as Galvatron at least, not helped by a pair of crooked, hooked horns rising from their head. Although their face was just as interesting, he seemed to have no nasal unit, just a hole and cheek ridges so sharp they looked like slapping him would be a fatal move. A portion of his face was obscured because his fangs reached further than his lower jaw and even then, said lower jaw had huge tusks protruding from them, framed by gnarled pointed teeth, looking like the guy was built purely to eat anything and everything that could be thrown at him.

The rest of him seemed almost secondary to that, but he was a dull blue in colour, had large wings, he seemed to have specialised sickle-like claw held above the ground on either foot, to counterbalance his hunched figure he had a long bony tail that ended in an arrow-head like part that, upon closer inspection, was the cockpit to his alternate mode.

He gave a satisfied shake and stretch to his limbs and eyed the two below him carefully before giving a look to the spire.  
"Are you two responsible for defiling the sacred form of Unicron?" He spoke in Cybertronian, a voice so low and growly the ground vibrated.

Quintessa cleared her throat after a few moments, trying to comprehend what exactly had just happened and the rumble of a voice that followed it, before finding her mind trailing off again, as it turned out, for the exact reason Galvatron hadn't responded.  
The new guy drooled. Except his drool had a nasty green-yellow tinge to it and smelt rancid as if a herd of zap-ponies had died.

"SPEAK! For the glory of Unicron!" he stepped closer to them looming furiously.

"You dare speak to me like that you utter BARBARIAN!" Quintessa managed to get over any fear or disgust at the perceived slight at her pride.

"Inferior" The new guy was unmoved by her fury and only seemed to growl in disgust.

"Shocking how many of you have a death wish!" Quintessa's tentacles bristled and writhed furiously with her mood.

As much as he'd love to have seen someone lay a well-deserved smackdown on Quintessa the idea of witnessing yet another fight was making his spark want to contract in on itself right now.  
"Well, it's evident you're the new addition to this merry mess of bots so why don't you start with your name?" Galvatron quietly put himself between the two of them his action only making them stop glowering at each other and glare at him instead.

There was a long pause.  
"Cyclonus" The jet grunted, eyeing them suspiciously "I am only an addition to Unicron's will, not your circus!" He hissed.

"Oh please, at least a Circus would have SOME fun" Galvatron clasped his hands together, unintentionally merging them with each other a little as the pang of frustration in his spark demanded attention with a burning fury that couldn't be ignored, "You wouldn't believe the repugnant mess it's been!" Galvatron hissed, "Died, resurrected, died again, remade, remade again and then out of nowhere dropped underground and some giant thing has remade me once more! And you ATE my friend! So how about you fragging-well behave! It's bad enough to be working with her again! And that's just the START of MY problems! So now we know what you're about how about you just follow us down so this can all be over and done with sooner rather tha-"

"Remade by Unicron!" Cyclonus dropped onto his knees in front of Galvatron, having picked and chosen what part of that rant he wanted to listen to, "Worthy!" he suddenly bowed.

"What?" Galvatron was still staring somewhere where Cyclonus's head used to be when he was upright and only continued to stare there in a daze.

"I have found my people for sure! I thought I sensed little faith in either of you! But if the grand and glorious Unicron saw fit to bless you with a body! I am your humble servant!" He reared up on his knees again his arms in the air and… is he flexing? "My strength is here to aid you O' Unicron's chosen one!"

"Chosen waste of Energon more like" Quintessa hissed, "Very well, now we know you're our ally how about you and I talk? It might be better if you got to know the actual smarts of this operation"

She was met with silence, Galvatron was staring at the posturing Seeker like he was absolutely out of it, his optics had glazed over staring dumbfounded at the monolith of posing metal before him.  
A couple of quiet noises escaped him as he struggled to find some sort of response before harshly venting out gusts of air and fleeing the situation  
"Yes, well, uh, Unicron this way" Galvatron babbled.

Quintessa scowled, 'circus' was far too apt for these idiots, she just prayed the moment she could use to take over this operation presented itself ever sooner.

"Oh my, what a mess it is up here!" A fourth voice chimed in, causing three necks to snap around to look at it, "And also very bright"

From the doorway that leads into Unicron, another bot had emerged, while he only had his head and shoulders poking out of the entryway and distance obscured more of him his voice was evidently ancient as it seemed to waver and struggle with the very effort of making its way over to their audio's.

"You must be my roommate's friends" The ancient mecha muttered once more, "Well come on in! Don't stand about in this dreadful heat all cycle!"

And with that he vanished, leaving a trio too confused to do anything but follow him down.


	4. Chapter 4

Confused and wary, with all prior worries and hang-ups having been temporarily forgotten in the face of a surprise fourth being who had not revealed themselves the trio crept on over to the 'entrance'.

Galvatron and Quintessa hopped down easily, Cyclonus however, took a moment to shift his bulk through the entryway, making a colossal bang as he slammed to the ground although his reaction was to instantly grovel to Unicron for his disturbance.

The nameless ancient guy who'd called them in had seemingly put on a surprising turn of speed or exited through some other doorway as he had vanished in the time it took them to enter.

Were it not for the other two seeing him as well Galvatron would've sworn everything had finally, truly, rained down on him and his sanity had snapped.

Well, as much as he didn't like her, Quintessa's reaction convinced him, Cyclonus's behaviour left Galvatron questioning if he'd already jumped off the deep end.

"Will you stop zoning out you underclocked moron!?" Galvatron winced at Quintessa's insult, it wasn't the first time those words came out around him.

Cyclonus had already headed off down a hallway his tail and wings twitching in reverent excitement, Quintessa noticed this too and immediately rushed after him.

Galvatron shrugged, he remembered how to do this from before and broke his own body down taking to the air as a shapeless cloud, quickly gliding after the other two.

Cyclonus was making short work of the trip, his huge strides keeping him well ahead of the game, Galvatron watched in amusement as Quintessa hissed annoyance each and every time Cyclonus overtook her, always speeding up a little to put herself at the head of the pack, then getting annoyed when the oblivious Cyclonus easily took the lead again.

It gave him a little to chuckle at and without a formed vocal unit, the action went unheard by his supposed 'team'.

It was of surprise to no one that they ended up back in the room from before with the same odd pulsating cluster on one side.

As soon as the trio entered several little blue shapes skittered away leaving the only new addition to the room standing obvious against the colourless walls.

"WHAT are you doing!?" Cyclonus was first to bellow at the newcomer, his whole body leaning back in shock and only just given enough room to stand by the rooms large ceiling.

The new figure had some kind of fluffy thing on a stick and was wiping the wall-cluster with it.

Getting a better look at him he was most certainly old, old enough that he hardly noticed Cyclonus yell. Which was quite a feat given the seekers non-yelling voice seemed to make the surrounding area rattle.

Galvatron had reformed and reformed closest to the new mecha and went to grab his attention.

They had thin metal draped over their severely hunched form like a cape, what might've been bright blues at one point were deathly dull, his optics were sunken in with age and flickered about as brightly as a struggling ember. He had several, drooping, whisker-like strands framing a darker, triangular-shaped nasal unit and a beard upon his chin that was braided into a somewhat neat shape that split into two points at the bottom. His fingers were chunky making his hands seem almost paw-like, a feat only enhanced by dull reddish claws at the tip of each digit, one gripped onto the fluffy thing and the other to a stick almost as crooked as the mech himself was. Something that might once have been a crest drooped sickly atop his helm but by that point, Galvatron's attention was more taken by a large, throbbing lump taking up a quarter of the elderly mech's back.

They didn't seem to notice as they swung around to face Galvatron.

"Yes? Yes, what is it young…" They gave a rather unfocused look up and down Galvatron's body, "lady?"

Galvatron shrugged it off

"Who are you?" He asked.

"What is he doing to Unicron!" Cyclonus bellowed, prompting the older guy to peer around Galvatron and finally notice the others.

"Oh, you brought friends!" His voice wobbled as much as he did when he moved, "My my my, you all must be here for my roommate! I didn't invite anyone, no nooo, not me, I'd only invite my darling lady-friend over but you know I just haven't been able to send messages out for a long time, oh is that why you're here?"

"Oh no" Quintessa whined from behind, the older mechs 'wandering mind' extremely obvious.

"No, what is your name?" Galvatron needlessly put a hand on the mech's shoulder but felt compelled to do so at watching him stand so wobbly even with his stick, "Who is your roommate?" he tried to enunciate each word as clearly as he could.

"Hm?" They tilted their head as if they only caught part of what was said, but he quickly flicked the fluffy-tipped stick at the lump in the wall, "That's my roommate, you probably want him the messy, messy sod" he waved his fluffy stick again, an implement Galvatron only now realised was actually a duster and turned to leave.

"THAT IS SCOURGE" Unicron finally boomed making Quintessa and Galvatron jump while Cyclonus dived to his knees and bowed a 'my lord' probably uttered too, "DO NOT TAKE HIS WORDS TOO SERIOUSLY, HE HAS BEEN HERE LONG BEFORE I WAS COVERED UP BY DIRT AND FILTH. I USE HIM TO MAINTAIN MY INTERNAL SYSTEMS AND TIME HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL ON HIM"

"My most humblest of apologies for yelling at a faithful follower of your will my lord!" Cyclonus mumbled into the floor.

Quintessa rolled her optics.

"Well, we're all here now, so what do you want us to do?" She huffed.

"MY EXTERNAL TEETH. THEY HAVE BEEN SEPARATED AND PULLED AROUND AS I SLEPT. I WANT THEM BACK HERE, BACK IN ORDER. I WANT -"

"Tea?" Scourge had entered again this time carrying a tray that loudly clattered as he moved, shaky hands rattling the contents. He placed a cup of… something, next to the cluster, then oh-so-slowly made his way over to the trio.

Concerned, Galvatron went to take a step forward but before he could the ground bubbled up and swelled, a small flat surface grew from the floor between them all.

"Ah there's the table" Scourge seemed oblivious to how it just grew there before his very optics and put his tray down, "Now I'm sorry young man but I simply don't have any cups your size" Scourge hummed as he shoved a single cup towards each member of the room and Cyclonus stared incredulously at his, "I think there might've been a better-suited cup lying around somewhere but seeing as someone didn't tell me about guests I never looked for it, but cheery-pip and all!" he waved a hand doddering out the room, "I'll find some tin biscuits!"

"IT'S BEST TO IGNORE HIM. FIND MY TEETH. RECORD THEIR LOCATION. THEN WE CAN START"

"YES MY LORD!" Cyclonus waited for a mere astrosecond before making his loud claim of loyalty and barging out the room.

"Wait!" Quintessa shrieked before bolting after him.

Galvatron remained, staring at the table and the abandoned drinks left on it, he looked up at the wall-cluster, that, somehow, seemed to be 'looking' back at him with impatience.

"Y-" He began.

"GO" Unicron bellowed causing Galvatrons vision to go red and throb painfully making Galvatorn squawk painfully as he burst into a cloud of Transformium again and whizzed to the exit.

To his surprise, neither of his 'team' had left and were both still around.

Cyclonus was crouched down, almost looking quite awkwardly amusing with his size, to peer at Quintessa who seemed not to care that the sight was 'goofy' and just revelled in having the attention, and thus 'command', of those around her.

"Well there's the rain cloud" She turned to give Galvatron a smug smirk, "Come to join us at last?"

"Sod off"

"Do not speak to Unicron's chosen like that" Cyclonus rumbled darkly, taking both of them by surprise, more so Galvatron, "You were not blessed with a body from the great god"

"Because I am already GREAT!" Quintessa snapped back, her arm twitching as if she struggled to hold back on slapping the giant.

"This one believes we need a 'bridge' to bring our true Masters teeth back to him" Cyclonus still ignored Quintessa's protests, but didn't say much more when she promptly took over the conversation.

"Well," She huffed, "Unless you think you can just push these huge spires all the way back here without a problem, then be my dimwitted guests! We need the leftover Space Bridge parts to forcefully shift gravity and the ground around these things to move them back"

"I am not sure our Lord will be best pleased with us shifting his gravity so!" Cyclonus rumbled.

"Then why hasn't he done it himself then, hmm?" Quintessa hissed back.

"Do not speak of our Lord that way!" Cyclonus flicked his tail ominously, the pointed end almost feeling like an axe with the way it slammed about.

"Well, it's not like your barbarous zealot processor is coming up with anything better!"

Galvatron sighed, pushing his hands to his face as the two bickered, Cyclonus single-mindedly praising and protecting everything relating to Unicron and Quintessa gloating how it didn't matter what she said as Unicron didn't like them fighting amongst themselves when they should be working and daring the former to strike her.

"Why don't… Why don't we just do what he said to do? Let's just go record their exact location and tell him. I'm sure he'll have further plans from there" Galvatron sighed.

"YES, that is what he ordered!" Cyclonus boomed as if his life purpose had been laid out before him and with that the behemoth of a bot ran off, kicking up massive clouds of sand that only slightly cleared when he transformed and blasted a lot of sand in the area away with his thrusters.

"He's gonna blow this" Quintessa muttered.

Galvatron looked at her, he really couldn't handle the thought of more chaos right now.

"He acknowledges the organic filth covering this planet, but let's face it, lacks the subtlety to… how shall we say, not divebomb into the middle of a packed fleshie city and go on a rampage" she smirked, sensing the worry that dripped from Galvatron.

She let the words hang with deliberate intent for a few moments before she too left quickly, heading in the opposite direction to Cyclonus and leaving him alone.

"This… is a mess" He muttered to himself.

How far can his life really spiral out of control? Could it get worse than this? Well, yes if the humans are alerted and no doubt bring the Autobots into this.

Why couldn't it just end? Finished, done, over. Why can't he just sink into obscurity and leave?.

"YOU WILL BE A MESS IF YOU DON'T MOVE" Unicron sensed his thoughts and hammered into them.

"Oh, big bot!" Galvatron snapped, his mood pulling a massive urn upon being interrupted, "Why don't you go think of a new insult? Hm!? Better get creative! You're not the only one who's gone and pushed me ar- AAAAAUUUUUUUUUGH"

Galvatron couldn't finish his spur-of-the-moment rant before his world became a red kaleidoscope that consumed his vision and burned through his processor like a thousand vying fingers stripping him of any thought that wasn't painful.

For a brief moment, it felt like he'd lost the ability to think otherwise. He couldn't comprehend thinking or feeling anything that wasn't pain nor could his processor even think of a moment that wasn't painful.

It may have been less than an Astrosecond but that one sensation alone was enough for Galvatron to lose control and drop, his body splashing down into a shuddering, convulsing puddle of purple metal.

"NOW, BEHAVE AND GO"

And go Galvatron did, sliding along the ground for a few meters before he took to the air again and headed out in search of teeth.


End file.
